nysepost.com

The study involved using stem cells and infecting them with the virus and then analysing changes in gene expression caused by the virus. A new study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Emory University sheds light on the biology and possible physiology behind Zika, a virus that has been linked to babies born with abnormally smaller heads.

The BBC's David Shukman reports . And the findings strongly support the idea that Zika, a once-obscure virus believed to cause little more than a headache and a rash, can be a killer. The papers, published by the New England Journal of Medicineand Cell Stem Cell , were both published online Friday, hours after the World Health Organization announced an emergency committee meeting next week to review " accumulating evidence " linking Zika with serious neurological disorders.

Aylward said that recently published studies in the Lancet on microcephaly and by the US Centers for Disease Control on Guillain-Barre strengthened the case that the mosquito-borne Zika virus is responsible. The research was led by Ming, along with Hongjun Song at Johns Hopkins and Hengli Tang at Florida State University . Results were released Friday by the journal Cell Stem Cell .

Scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Emory University and Florida State University found that the virus likely targets a type of cell that actively divides in the human brain between the second and fourth month of gestation. Researchers did not take the brain cells from embryos; they created them from stem cells obtained from other sources. The department is providing area doctors, including obstetricians, up-to-date information about the virus , including questions to ask patients who ...

It's expected that New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson - the world's largest maker of health care products - will appeal the verdict, said attorney James Onder, the AP reported . USA healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay US$72 million (A$100.3 million) in damages over the death of a woman whose ovarian cancer was linked to use of the company's products.

The Zika virus has sparked global alarm largely because of fears that the pathogen is causing microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with unusually small heads and damaged brains. "We don't feel that there's a public health threat because Zika virus is mostly spread by the bite of the mosquito and the mosquitoes that carry Zika virus are not present in Contra Costa County", she said.